1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for implementing a universal remote controller and method thereof, by which various kinds of electronic products can be controlled in a manner that a remote controller unit of the apparatus receives remote controller control information for the various kinds of electronic products from electronic product units of the various kinds of electronic products, respectively.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, various kinds of electronic products such as TV, VTR, air conditioner, and the like employ remote controllers to facilitate their functional operations, respectively.
In case of using a remote controller, a specific function of a corresponding product can be automatically executed in a distance instead of pressing a key installed at the corresponding product directly. Hence, user's convenience can be maximized.
Recently, there exist various kinds of electronic home appliances. Moreover, various A/V devices including VCR, DVD, DTV set-top box, etc. are connected to such a display device as TV to use.
Moreover, a plurality of electronic products are mutually connected to each other as a home theater for embodying a personal theater, a home network system, and the like are popularized.
For such reasons, a universal or multi remote controller enabling to control various kinds of electronic home appliances has been developed and now popularized.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of configurations of a general remote controller module and an electronic product module controlled by the remote controller module.
Referring to FIG. 1, in a remote controller module 10 according to a related art, once a user inputs a specific key signal via a key input unit 11 to control a specific operation of an electronic product designated by a user, a converter/generator (not shown in the drawing) generates a code corresponding to the inputted key signal under the control of a remote controller control unit 12.
An infrared transmitting unit 13 outputs an infrared signal corresponding to the code generated from the remote controller control unit 12 to an electronic product module 20. Information for controlling electronic products and the like is stored in a memory unit 14.
Basically in the electronic product module 20, an infrared receiving unit 21 receives the infrared signal transmitted from the infrared transmitting unit 13 of the remote controller module 10 and converts the received signal to an electrical signal to output.
Subsequently, a system control unit 22 receives the electrical signal outputted from the infrared receiving unit 21, demodulates the received electrical signal into the corresponding code in a converting unit (not shown in the drawing), and then controls an overall system to enable the product operation corresponding to the demodulated code.
In case of universal remote controller manufactured for the purpose of controlling a plurality of electronic products, various key codes of a plurality of usable electronic products are stored therein by a manufacturer.
Hence, one remote controller enables to control a plurality of electronic products through a mode selection in a manner of setting up various kinds of product information for manufacturers, model names, and the like of the corresponding electronic products to be controlled.
In case of intending to control a specific product using the remote controller, once a predefined ‘product selection’ key of the electronic product module including the information of a plurality of the products, the electronic product module displays the products thereon by a turn method. When the information of the specific product is displayed, a user selects it to control the specific product. Such a process or operation is called ‘mode selection’ or ‘mode switching’.
Yet, in such a method, a user is troubled with a job of directly setting up the manufacturer and model names of the entire electronic products to be controlled. There is a limit to the electronic product selection through the mode switching. And, operational key buttons for a plurality of electronic products, e.g., TV, air conditioner, refrigerator, etc., are not compatible with each other. Hence, more confusion and inconvenience are caused to the user.
In order to solve the aforesaid problems, a following method is proposed. First of all, while key codes of all usable electronic products are stored, key code values are simultaneously outputted from a remote controller module without user's mode switching so that a specific electronic product can receive its corresponding key code only to process.
However, the proposed method is effective only if key codes of the electronic products are different from each other. Substantially, a large memory volume is needed to store various kinds of product information for a number of manufacturers and electronic products in a single remote controller. Hence, the corresponding product cost is raised.
Moreover, in case of a plurality of electronic products provided within a home and a plurality of remote controllers controlling the electronic products, respectively, the number of the remote controllers rises. And, a user may have difficulty in finding the corresponding one of the remote controllers.
To overcome such problems, a remote controller generates an alarming sound to notify its location by receiving data from an electronic product module if the electronic product module transmits the data to the remote controller module.
Namely, it facilitates to find out the location of the specific remote controller using the remote controller module enabling data transmission/reception.
However, in such a case, a plurality of remote controllers should be provided one by one to a plurality of electronic products, respectively. Since each of the remote controllers uses a battery power, it should maintain a standby mode to receive wireless data outputted from the corresponding electronic products to shorten battery endurance thereof.